


Amethyst

by ObviouslyAnonymous



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Grief, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kyber Crystals, Original Species, Past Abuse, Slow Build, alien reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-07-22 20:27:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7452883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObviouslyAnonymous/pseuds/ObviouslyAnonymous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You are the sole living creature aboard a vessel hurtling through space. Your distress call is picked up by the First Order. </p><p>The living crystals embedded into your skin, and the powers you possess, make you a prisoner of great interest.</p><p>(Formerly Eyes Like Stars)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Endangered

**Author's Note:**

> You're kind of not good at this whole communication thing.

You awoke to the blinding light of a hundred thousand stars. It felt like fire, and although you only opened your eyes for a moment, it seemed like a lifetime. There was no reprieve even with your eyes closed; it burned through your eyelids with a barely hindered fury. Any shapes or figures you might have glimpsed had might as well have been invisible.

You began to turn on your side, and that was when you heard the clang of the metal restraints. With difficulty, you managed to turn your face into the pillow despite them. You were too tired to do anything about them, and they were an improvement to the spiked cuffs from before. The relative darkness gave you temporary relief. Perhaps you’d handle the restraints later when you had more energy. Your mind began to drift back into the ether but then there was a voice.

"You're awake." A modulated voice, to be sure. It could be human, but it could not be. There was no way to be certain when the light rendered you blind like this. You hadn't noticed him in the room before.

Speaking of the room- where were you? Who was the voice? You had been on a ship. Apparently, that hadn't worked out too well. You didn't recognize the voice, but the modulation rendered that useless. It could be anyone. Perhaps this was another game.

A long silence had passed, and you realized that maybe you were expected to respond with verbal communication.

"Yes," you managed to say.

"I am Commander Kylo Ren with the First Order and Master of the Knights of Ren. I have questions for you,"

The darkness granted to you with the pillow was not proving adequate. You felt your stomach roll with unease. Did they want you uncomfortable during her questioning? You were ready to pass out. Your hands itched along the sides of the bed for your glasses but the space was empty.

There were few words you knew in verbal Basic. Understanding a language was one think, speaking it was quite another, particularly when your vocal chords weren’t properly developed enough for sophisticated verbal speech. The long scar that made a semi-circle around your throat didn’t help either, and it made your voice hoarse.You struggled a moment to think of the word you were looking for, something round, with glass- “Glasses?” You closed your eyes together tight, trying to recall the proper Basic sentence structure for what you wanted to ask. The adverb would come first, and then the verb… With immense difficulty, you managed to butcher the sentence, “Where are my glasses?”

“Answer my questions, and you will have your glasses.”

It took you several minutes to put together your response. You had yet to grow accustomed to oral communication. What he probably interpreted as hesitation was a lack of fluency. "I will answer questions- if you turn the lights off," you said. A more than fair bargain.

The lights immediately turned off, and you noticed that his hold on the room was loosened, and with the nausea subsiding, you sat up on the medical bed. It had white sheets, you noticed. Everything was white. There were machines on both sides of you with constantly fluctuating pictures. More importantly, a figure poured in black sat in a chair directly in front of the end of the bed.

He was tall. He was sitting up straight in the chair, and his long legs stretched out beside him. And a strange helmet covered his head. He had large hands in black gloves, and you supposed the whole costume was meant to be intimidating. It was, but with the low lighting, your eyes could see the face underneath. He was, in fact, a human. With dark hair and brown eyes and a large scar over one eye. You expected someone older, perhaps wrinkled or with wisps of gray in their hair, but he was young. You had trouble gauging human lifespans, as they were far more fleeting compared to yours, but you estimated he was far off from half a century. Fifteen years, perhaps, before his fiftieth birthday.

"Your species is unidentified. What are you and where are you from," the modulated voice crackled through the mouthpiece, and the question was more demand than inquiry.

"Endangered species, destroyed planet,” you answered tentatively, "of no name."

"The crystals,” he leaned forwards in his seat, "explain to me their purpose.”

You didn't like where this was going. Your hands covered your bare arms instinctively; the metal restraints rattled with the movement. It was a pointless action, the white and purple stones were more concentrated near your hands than anywhere else. Even your face was a mesh of flesh and stone. They dotted your skin like freckles and refracted the soft purple light onto the wall.

"No," you muttered the refusal to the blankets.

"If you do not cooperate, I _will_ resort to more painful methods," Even the modulator could not hide the edge in his tone. The threat hung in the air like the dark looming clouds just before a storm. You did not doubt his resolve. He smelled of death and fire and ambition. He had killed before.

You stared at one another for what seemed like hours. Finally, you conceded.

“Show you,” You rattled the metal restraints and hoped he caught your meaning. He hesitated, and you shot him a look that demonstrated your opinion on the matter; that you, at least at the moment, were far too weak to overpower him and subsequently make an attempt at escape.

A moment of contemplation passed, but then he stood and walked over to you. His long-fingered gloved hands made short work of the restraints. He then took a step back and stood, expectant. But on his way over to you, something on his belt caught your eye, black cylinder kind of shape. It called to you in a way you didn’t know how to describe. Your skin itched when he leaned over. As soon as he released your hands you wanted to reach for the lightsaber but something told you that wouldn’t exactly be received well, so you held back.

He was waiting for display, so you rolled the tension out of your shoulders. Then you held out your hands so that they were parallel to one another with about a foot of space between them. Just then, a blend of energy crackled into the air, a mix of amethyst and bright white. You hair stood on end, and he took a step further away from you. You looked towards him and tilted your head towards the spectacle between your palms.

 _See_ , you thought. But without a word he turned and left, leaving you alone and in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned to find out where the hell your glasses are. Any theories? Comment below!


	2. The Force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit more information on your origins and your species. Also, Kylo Ren stalks into your room and you agree to be his teacher.

 

After his dramatic exit, you didn’t see another living soul for another three days. Droids came in to replace your bedsheets and change out your IVs and such, and despite your best efforts to lure them into at least some kind of conversation, you were left wanting.

And there was very little to do in the empty white room. This didn’t help at all because then you became both lonely and bored. You had half a mind to attempt an escape to spice things up a bit. You would have made an effort, had you been able to stand. You felt weaker than you ever had before, and it took significant effort to raise yourself up on your elbows.

The small demonstration had tired you out, and whatever they were putting into the liquid that went into the needle in your vein wasn’t helping you recover. As such, you slept a lot, anywhere from sixteen to eighteen hours a day. The time you were awake was spent either staring at the ceiling, attempting to gain your mobility, or trying to remember what the hell had happened.

Whenever you attempted to recall what happened before you woke up in this room, you hit a blank. The very last thing you remembered was barricading yourself in the bridge and sending out the distress signal. Something had gone wrong with the crew, they had begun to change somehow, and you supposed that perhaps the door to your cell had been left open.

You did not attempt to remember anything before that; you didn’t have to. The crew aboard that vessel had been smugglers, thieves, murderers. They had caused the destruction of your entire planet. You didn’t know why they had begun to turn on each other and you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

Everyone you ever cared about was dead. The suffering of those who had committed genocide in the name of greed would come second to your loss if you gave it any more than a passing thought at all. Everyone you had ever known was gone because of the crystals that resided in your skin.

And to think that only months ago you would have given anything for the chance to explore the galaxy. Your people had been very isolated; you were, after all, a troglophile species that almost exclusively dwelled in complicated cave systems below the surface. The surface of your planet was cold and inhospitable.

Nobody ever went up to the surface, and nobody ever attempted to leave the planet. It simply wasn't done. But you had done it, and you had fallen in love with the stars. You had wasted days away mapping out the universe.

Perhaps the reason you slept so long every day so that you could avoid confronting the fact that all of this was your fault.

You weren’t entirely sure what time it was when Commander Ren entered your room, but you were in that half-way point between being asleep and awake. His pace was fast and he crossed the small room in seconds and loomed over you.

The helmet still confused you. Not one inch of his skin showed through his robes. Your limited experiences with the human race suggested this was atypical.

He spared you no greeting or formality.  _You are a Force user._ His voice in your head was far more pleasing than the noise that came out of the modulator on his helmet. 

**_I don’t know what that is_** , you reply, a bit shocked at his sudden entrance and voice in your thoughts. 

You were also very relieved, as this was the form of communication to which you were most accustomed. His presence felt different than when you communicated with a member of your people, but it was like hearing a foreign accent, something grown used to over time.

Briefly, you wondered if he was the only one that would be able to speak to you like this. 

To a bystander, the exchange between the two if you would have looked very strange. Both of you were staring at one another with varying degrees of intensity, not saying a word.

You felt him push against your mind. The difference between your dialogue and his attempted invasion was very sharp. Telepathic dialogue was more of a natural tide, a flow, of sorts, whereas a breach was more of a thick wall of water. He was strong in the Force, as he called it, and it took great effort to keep him out. You were not in the habit of having to defend the sanctity of your thoughts, the culture of your people did not breed unchecked rage. 

**_I am not lying to you, Commander. What is it that you are looking for?_**

**_Why were you on that vessel? What are you?_**

**_I was a prisoner, just as I am here._** You wondered if this conversation was nearing anything even remotely related to a point.

**_You can use the Force_** , he insisted.

You shrugged, supposing that he was talking about your demonstration several days ago. **_If that is what you call it, then yes._**

**_Is this common among your species?_ **

You lay back down and close your eyes. **_It was. What do you want from me, Commander?_**

**_The Supreme Leader is willing to grant you special privileges if you agree to... instruct me._ **

**_In the Force_** , you surmised.

**_Yes._**

**_And if I refuse?_**

**_You will be interrogated and subsequently executed_**. His answer did not surprise you. It was logical to dispose of an asset that one did not wish others to possess. Nonetheless, the Commander desperately needed to improve his bedside manner.

Your options were non-existent, and despite your grief, you wanted to remain alive. You decided it would be best not to risk deliberation. **_My acceptance has conditions_**.

His reply was silence, so you continued. 

**_I want my glasses, Commander Ren. And I need my specific nutritional needs met. Whatever is in this,_** you gestured to the IV in your arm, **_isn't helping. I need some leaves, twigs, bacteria, whatever you have that would suit a troglophile type of organism._**

He inclined his head in a gesture that was neither a nod nor a shake and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit new to the Star Wars fanfic community, so if I ever make any sort of error, please let me know! Also, please comment! Your opinions help me get these chapters published faster.


	3. Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally get something to eat, and ghosts keep showing up in your dreams. Also, you leave the medical bay.

 

It took a little under half an hour before the door opened again. You were expecting the same droid that had changed your bedsheets, but instead, something walked in clad in white armor and a helmet and holding a plain metal tray. What was the purpose of wearing a helmet indoors? You wondered. 

“Are you a droid?” You asked, voice hoarse, but genuinely curious. 

“What? No. I’m a Stormtrooper.”

“I have never seen one before,” You explain, and take a deep breath while you attempt to sit up. The Stormtrooper folded out a tray that was apparently part of the bed, set down the metal tray, and left. 

“Thanks,” You mumble, but they’ve already gone. You focus your attention instead on the tray and inspect what they’ve managed to find for you. Some lettuce, a few twigs, and a large glass of green tinted liquid. While troglophile species are very efficient in their use of energy, and often you don’t have to eat more than once a day, you consume two-thirds of the plate in what seems like record time. You hadn’t realized how hungry you were. A few twigs and a couple of mouthfuls of the liquid you leave behind, for later. 

You enter a sort of fitful sleep after eating, your dreams were plagued with strange voices and ghosts you've never seen before. And while the ghosts of your ancestors were a common sight, as they had frequently walked the caves of your home planet, ghosts of strangers were not common. They were human, of that you were sure, wearing strange robes. 

_Lead him to the light,_ one whispered. _Only you can change his destiny,_ whispered another.

In your dream you had walked forward in the seemingly endless space, blindly attempting to reach the fading translucent visages of the ghosts. They moved around, never in one spot, always close but still out of reach. 

_Who are you?_ You asked them. _Why are you here?_

They ignored your questions, which was very typical for ghosts. They were under no obligation to answer the inquiries of the living.

_You must teach him balance. Gain his trust. He is not meant to follow in my footsteps._

The closer you reached consciousness the further away the ghosts became until they had gone and you only heard the echoes of their words. 

On your fifth day as a prisoner of the First Order, you left the medical room. Commander Ren was beside you, a firm grip on your arm. You wore no shackles or cuffs, as there was no need to restrain prisoners on the Finalizer. As Ren so helpfully informed you, _there is nowhere for you to go_. Though his grip on your arm was equally a threat as it was a crutch, as you were still experiencing some remaining weakness and difficulty with your balance. 

Your lessons were to begin tomorrow and every day after that for two to three hours a day. You did not ask what would become of you after you taught him everything you know. He had already told you what would happen to you when you were no longer deemed of use. 

The hallways of the Finalizer were filled with the white armored Stormtroopers. Technicians and other non-helmet wearing personnel also walked about, but they all cleared the way for the Commander. No one looked at him save for with their peripheral vision, and the rank smell of fear was almost overwhelming. They were terrified of him. Not that you could blame them. The whole persona he put on display was meant to inspire fear, to intimidate into submission. 

Eventually, he drew you to a halt, and quickly turned his heels a full ninety degrees, causing his black cape to flare out behind him. The doors before you opened and he led you inside to what you could only assume were his private quarters. There was a small kitchenette and living room in your direct line of sight, swathed in shades of black with the occasional white and red spread out intermittently. 

"You will be staying with me. For security purposes," He spoke out loud and through the modulator, and the sound was flat and empty. 

You nodded, once. 

Ren had already turned away from you and begun to walk to the far left, gloved hands fumbling with taking off his cowl. His head gestured to the left. "Your room is over there," 

You tentatively walked to the door, your door. Every so often you were forced to steady your balance by touching the wall or the furniture. When you reached the door and turned the knob, you didn't know what you were expecting, but it was not this. 

The first thing you noticed was the window. The living room had a similar view, but it seemed more spectacular in your bedroom. It was floor to cieling, and the view of the galaxy was nothing short of spectacular. In the center of the room there was a large bed, and off on the other wall there was two doors which no doubt led to a closet and a refresher. You didn’t bother to check either. Your legs carried you to the window, where you slid down to the floor and rested your head against the edge of the bed. The lights were off in the room, and you could see even the far reaches of the galaxy from here, and specks of light from the galaxies further still. 

It was a familiar sight but from a different perspective. Your planet had been on the far outer reaches, and you looked for the landmarks you had first mapped in your mission to chart the stars. Your system had two large uninhabitable gas planets, and finally, after a long moment, you spotted the small red and orange dots. They were far off, closer to the far right side of the window and deep into the depths of space. Meteor belts surrounded your system, and you supposed that perhaps that was what had protected your people for so long. You felt, rather than saw, the void of where your home world had been. 

Grieving an individual was one thing. Grieving the loss of an entire species, an entire world, full of life unjustly taken, was another. 

You took the pillows from the bed and the topmost blanket and spread them out on the floor next to the window. You stared out at the stars for hours, until your eyes closed by themselves, and the ghosts whispered to you once more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think I've forgotten about the glasses.


	4. Elements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your first lesson with Ren is interrupted by our beloved General Hux.

 

 

You sat in front of Ren in a large empty room. There was one small light on by the door, for his benefit, but otherwise, the room was dark. You were both in plain black robes, no cape or cowl, and he had removed his helmet.   It sat on the bench near the door, all the way across the room. His dark hair brushed the tops of his shoulders and was borderline unruly. His dark eyes were focused, on you, at present. There was a good distance between the three of you, around three feet. Your lessons had started, and the two of you so far had only stared at one another. You were at a loss as for how to begin, but finally, after several minutes of silence, you spoke. 

**_I have no experience in the Force abilities of other lifeforms, so our lessons will begin as mostly trial and error. Our first lesson will be an assessment of your skills, but it will serve as a demonstration of mine._**

You floated three objects into the space between you and gently set them onto the floor. A stone, a lit candle, and a bowl of water. 

**_I perform an action, and you will attempt to recreate what I have done. After this, we will move on._** ****

The first item was the stone. You floated it up, and a light sort of purple aura surrounded the rock. This, apparently, surprised Ren. There was a shift in the air. The stones embedded into your skin that was not covered by your robes let out a soft glow, barely noticeable, but you could feel the renewed energy thrumming inside of you. It was not unlike the vibrations of very loud music. The stone hovered in the air and then broke apart into a thousand pieces. They scattered about the room, suspended in the air, and lingered like that for a moment before they came crashing back together into a fractured version of the stone that they had been before. With concentration, they began to heat, and they bonded together and formed a perfect sphere, devoid of any blemish. 

The stone gently floated to the ground and the light purple aura dissolved and then it was Ren’s turn.  

He had no issue floating the rock, nor destroying it. And his force abilities weren't visible to the degree that yours were. His effect on the object was, of course, visible. But the energy field was nonexistent. You did not bother to hide your intrigue, but he wasn't paying much attention to you regardless. In fact, he was growing much more frustrated. The emotional responses he was giving off were subtle at first, but when his brow began to knit together, and his fingers curl, he looked positively infuriated. 

He couldn't meld the rock back together. 

Breaking the rock apart was a test of the darkness inside of the Force. It took passion and energy, even hate. But melding the rock back together was a part of the light, it spoke to patience and control. 

  
_**That is enough**_ , you said. _**Let us move on.**_

"No," he insisted, seemingly gaining more motivation at your words. But the fractured stones only rotated in the shape of the sphere they had been before. 

You snapped your fingers, and the stones were gone. _**Let us move on**_ ** _._**

He straightened at this, and his mounting frustration seemed to deflate. He leveled his gaze at you, and you moved the flame over so that it was directly in the center of the space between the two of you. 

Then you reached out and ran your hand underneath the flame. You moved it between your fingers, and it hovered just above your skin, not quite burning but warming all the same. You moved your hand away from the candle and the fire remained, and you rolled it around your fingers as one would a coin. 

_Many of the things I will teach you require proficiency in all aspects of the Force. My people do not know Light and Dark, as yours do._ Your tone was conversational, and you did not look at him when you said it, focusing your attention on the flame. It took focus to keep it from straying back to the candle. Persuading it to stay was a matter of patience and meditation. You funneled your grief into the flame, your passion, and your anger, but you held back, feeding it only what you had to. 

_I have cast the light away,_ Ren insists. **_I have chosen the Dark side._**

You wanted to press that he was splitting himself in half, that everyone has both light and dark inside of them. You wanted to tell him that choosing one side of the force when you could so clearly see both inside of him was unwise, that his inward battle for unity within himself was needless, but you voiced none of this. He was not ready. _And that is your choice, but these skills will be more difficult for you to learn because of it,_ you reply. 

You balance the flame on the pad of your index finger and allow it to return to the candle, looking at him expectantly to let him know that it was his turn, now. 

He slowly reached forward to hover his fingers under the flame as you did. 

**_Calm your mind_ ,** you press. **_You cannot force fire to do your bidding; you must persuade it. Fire responds better to emotion than water. To keep the flame lit when you separate it from the candle means you must allow it to feed off of you._**

The flame was eager to jump onto his hand. It ghosted over his fingers, and he allowed it to dance up his arm, and with time, it began to grow. It eventually encompassed the breadth of his entire palm. 

**_But you must control your emotions. Do not allow the fire to get out of control._**

Ren looked up at you, sharply, just then. He steeled his expression and focused again on the flame. It began to recede, and with it move down his arm and back towards his hand again. Then he returned it to the candle. 

_Good,_ you nodded, allowing your lips to turn up slightly in a half smile. You floated the candle out of sight and moved the bowl of water in the center, the third and final object. 

**_Water is less easily persuaded than fire, and it requires more focus, passivity, and meditation than any of the other elements._**

You ran your hand over the bowl and the water formed into a wave and flipped around so that it floated over your palm. You ran your other hand over the first, and the water began to form a sphere. Then, you moved your second hand, and the water went with it, stretching out into a paper thin shield.

**_Unlike fire, water cannot grow. You do not have to feed it. However, it is the most willing to change its shape._** ****

Moving your hand down sharply. The water crashed into the bowl. It spun around its edges, looking as though it might tip over, but eventually it settled back onto the floor, and the water went calm. 

Just when Ren began to run his hand over the water, the door opened. A stiff redheaded man stood in the doorway. 

 

“Ren, there has been a development,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any theories as to what this development is? Comment below!


End file.
